Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bears preparing for 'mental war' against Vikings | Take The North

Episode Date: September 19, 2026

Bears head coach Ben Johnson and his staff believe it's going to be "mental war" when they face the Vikings on Sunday. Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote break down the Week 2 matchup in this episode. How is Johnson trying to avoid overthinking what Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores might do? Also, the Bears defense has to be better than it was against the Panthers. What's defensive coordinator Dennis Allen's plan to improve his unit? And can we expect tight end Colston Loveland to have any catches this week?!?

The Take the North podcast is brought to you by the Rorman Automotive Group, home with a $50 oil change. Visit them online at roerman.com. Bears fans, this is Take the North. What's the reason, Duck? It's here with your host. All these guys. Dan Weiderer and Mark Grody.

We're going to take the North and never give it back. Hello, get everybody, and welcome back into the Take the North podcast, along with Dan Weiderer of the Athletic. I am Mark Grody of 104.3, the score. I'm in downtown Chicago. Dan is at Bears headquarters at Hallis Hall as we both get ready for the Bears and the Vikings at Soldier Field Sunday. What's happening, Dan?

Yeah, I've got a poll question for you. This is the news of the day out here at House Hall and you need you to weigh in with an opinion. Okay. So there was a bet made out here last week between Pat Finley, Missouri alum, and Pat Norton, Kansas alum, on the Tigers Jayhawks football game from last Friday. The loser had to buy donuts for the media room. So Pat Norton lost the bet. He brought in three boxes of pastries, I would say,

to the media room on Thursday morning. He didn't bring him in Wednesday because we told him that is Dionne Miller Day, right? Like that, you just clear the way and you let Deion bake whatever she's baking. But he brought him in on Thursday. I went this morning, Grotie, and I grabbed myself an apple Danish.

It's quite a bit of heat from friend of the podcast, Caitlin Sharkey, who doesn't think that the Danish is an acceptable pick. She thinks that whatever the fruit filling in there is, it's just a little bit questionable, the donut's a better option. I want your verdict on this because it got a little contentious for really the next five or six hours because of my choice of the bench. I am kind of with the shark on this one. Doesn't surprise me.

I think when, yeah, when you start, start to, and I'm not saying I dislike that. Like, I could eat an apple Danish, but I would choose a delicious, like, let's say, Long John donut over a fruit-filled pastry. Like, that's fine, but a little bit controversial. It is, to me, that is akin to a brownie with nuts in it or anything but just chocolate. It's a little bit outside the box. So I'm sorry. I'm with the shark on this one. I hate to deviate from my take the North partner, but I just did. I just did. We came back from open locker room. You know, it's later in the day. And so then you see what's remaining. And Caitlin wanted it pointed out that there were five Danishes left and three donuts

remaining, meaning that there was obviously fewer donuts remaining. The jokes on her, and probably you too, to some extent, when I bring in like week 11, when I come in, with just an absolute surplus stockpile of Danish's with no donuts. And I just put them out there. And I'm saying, this is what's available. This is what I voted for. Well, I guess the jokes on us. And yes, they will get eaten because it's not, not like they're bad.

Because the people in that room are pigs. That's why it will get eaten. Pigs and slabs who don't clean up after themselves. I tell you, that's for sure. Look, there's just more of a commitment. When you put fruit in the snack, you can't, it's not as grab and go, I think. it feels a little bit more gluttonous to. There's just something more practical and delicious about a straight-up donut.

I don't know what else to tell you, Dan. But that's just. Well, anyway, I felt like that was more important to get to then Down All Right's return to practice to myself. That's where we are at on this Thursday afternoon. I'm glad you started that way. But yeah, it was nice to see Darnall Wright. The had the knee injury, did not practice the day before.

Limited is what he's down as. You had eyes on him, I assume, and the little glimpse of practice that we get out. at Alice Hall on those days that the Bears do practice. Yeah, and look, like you and I talked yesterday, Darnell has proven to us time and time again that he's going to battle through whatever's slowing him down a little bit. And so I don't have this concern whatsoever that it's going to inhibit his play by the time we get to Sunday,

but don't need everybody sharp because you know what they're facing this weekend, offensively against the Bradford's defense. Yeah, no doubt about it. And look forward to getting to that and hearing more about it. Why we stay on the injury report while we're at it and just finish that off because Neville Gallimore, who had been sick back in practice in a full capacity, Grady Jarrett, who had been resting. He needed a little rest was back out there as a full-time participant in practice. And then you got a bunch of guys who were limited still.

Kyle Minungan, guy hamstring, limited, Malik Mohamed, ankle, Diot Dangbo, shoulder. Again, these guys were all limited. They did practice. DeAndre Swift, limited again for a second. second straight day. Hazitra Pillow, still good to see him limited. Xavier Woods, okay, continues to be limited with that groin injury. We mentioned darn all right, Neville Gallimore, and Grady. Jared, does it feel like, Dan?

Because it often does when you have these guys that are limited for a couple days, that they're headed in the right direction. Any concern about any of those names, including a couple of big names in both of your running backs? No, and like Swift was asked late Wednesday about his presence on the injury report, and he just kind of looked at everybody that said, I'm fine. Yeah.

Like, you know, not even a little bit of concern there. And then we'll get the official injury report Friday afternoon and see if anything changes from that standpoint. But they seem like they're in a good spot heading into this matchup, which I really do think is more pivotal than you would expect a week two matchup to be. Very key division game in a division that's wide open with a lot of competitive teams. This is a big deal here to play your sharpest on Sunday. No doubt.

I mean, both teams are one and oh, both coming off. of in their own separate ways, significant wins with what Minnesota did and scoring 29 straight points against the Packers. So they know how to put up points in fast order. Look, it wasn't 59 that the Bears scored, but they did put 39 points up on the board. And we still don't know. I think we have a pretty damn good idea who's going to play quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. I mean, it would be a shocker if Kyler Murray was to play at this point, having been in concussion protocol. So it's probably going to be Carson Wentz, who had three touchdowns last week.

And there are people who think that the Vikings may even be as, and this is a separate topic, may even be more comfortable going forward with Carson Wentz, even when Kyler Murray is healthy. I'd be a little surprised if they were to give up on him this quickly. But if Wentz looks good against the Bears, assuming he is the quarterback, that's an interest, it will continue to be an interesting quarterback room with Kevin O'Fey. McConnell and all those guys. Yeah, what a weird situation that they've been in for the last few years here at the quarterback position. And if you missed our podcast earlier this week with Alec Lewis, he had a lot of good intel from the Twin Cities and what's going on with the Vikings.

And obviously this is a big part of who they are and who they're going to be this year. And so the bears are going to have to try to find a way defensively to make life uncomfortable for that Vikings offense. And they'll have the support of a lot of full-throated Bears fans at Soldier Field. I think there's a lot of excitement in this building to do. about returning home and having that support behind them. Because we saw during the later stages of last season, particularly in the home game against Green Bay in the regular season

and the two playoff games, this place was alive. You know, and it was at a different level than we're used to seeing it. And the Bears, I think, are hoping that the opener brings similar energy. At what point do you have an early prediction, Will? Because it's going to happen. There will be Green Bay sucks chance because they're more prevalent. Honestly, God, like they are more prevalent than they've ever been around this town, whether at White Sox Park or at Wrigley Field or in Nashville or in, where else did we hear it?

With Carolina. I heard it at the Charlotte Airport, for God's sake. That was my favorite bit of the return trip. It was late Monday afternoon. And the little gate agent came on the headset and said, you know, we're going to be bored and soon. I just want to congratulate all your Bears fans on a productive weekend. And then Green Bay Sucks broke out by gate A-9. you know so like that's the world we're in right now oh man yeah it will happen and there's no rhyme or

reason the bears don't have to be leading they don't they could be behind it could be before the game it could be after the game but rest assured it will happen before we get to our game spotlight anything else any other headlines out at hallis hall like newswise or is the injury report really the biggest thing that we're talking about in terms of actual news from the hall on a Thursday yeah I think that's probably yet and some of the other stuff will we'll kind kind of blend into the flow of everything else we've got going on in this episode. And so there'll be a little bit of everything as we go forward. But probably no more Apple Danish talk from this point forward.

Yeah, we've exhausted that. I thought we did a pretty good job on that. Boy, this is a versatile podcast, the things that we can do. More food, more music. That's right. Okay. So you like doing your own oil changes. It's got to be cheaper at home, right?

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It's time for our Take the North Game Spotlight. What have you for us to discuss? Look, we talked about this on the last episode, teased it, gave people a little sneak peek into what today would be about. But there's no question that this week's game spotlight is the Ben Johnson versus Brian Flores matchup. It is really, really cool. I think in my opinion, to see the genuine admiration both these guys have for one another. They've developed a little bit of a competitive rivalry here within the division over the last several years, both last year and when Ben was in Detroit and Flores was taken over in Minnesota there at the decoordinator position.

And so there's a lot here. And I thought that the key voices from the Bears' offense would be worth listening to today during our game spotlight because they all, I thought, shed nice amounts of light on what they are trying to do this week and the riddle they're trying to solve with the unpredictability and the heavy pressure

and the maybe you'll get a surprise kind of dynamic of Brian Flores and so I guess we'll start out Mark Grody by just listening to Ben Johnson from Wednesday when he was sort of considering this possibility that this is the type

of week that as a coach that prides himself on strategizing and preparation and game planning, you can get a little deep into your head maybe further than you want to, trying to anticipate what you think the other guy's anticipating that you are anticipating, he's anticipating about you kind of thing. Makes perfect sense. Back and forth with Ben Johnson from Wednesday. When you face someone like Flores,

not only is he very accomplished, but someone that you have faced so many times, is there ever a trap to avoid of just overthinking and trying to guess what he thinks you think he thinks you think he thinks you think he thinks you're going to do? Yeah, yeah. Yes, there is. How do you avoid going down a path where you're just overdue? I'm in that path right now. No, I mean, there's a lot of that.

Man, end of the day, our guys, I want them to go out and play fast. I want to make sure we're sound. It's not very different than what we talked about a week ago, making sure we have a hat for a hat as often as we can. And if he gets us on something, that's fine. Then we've got to come together and make sure we get it corrected and we'll move on from there. So this game will end up being some adjustments going on over the course of it. It might be in the table a little bit more than I'd like to over the course of a game.

But that's how these ones have tended to go in the past. Grotie, I loved it. I mean, it's a head coach acknowledging that the in-game adjustments are going to be key. and that that little Microsoft surface over on the sideline might demand his attention a little bit more often than he's used to giving it during a game. It's just, it's good candor from the head coach about what this challenge is. I thought that Caleb Williams, when he was up at the podium on Wednesday, put it perfectly because he said, he quoted what Ben Johnson called it, a mental war. That's what's going on between these two coaches who, what I really love,

like about it is, at least through the media, both have kind of accepted that it's about their brains and the cat and mouse game. And as he said, thinking, thinking it through if I do this, if he does that, what's he thinking about me? Like you have to think about every single possible scenario, which at some point in time might drive you a little bit crazy. I think that both will sleep well after this game on Sunday. But I just love the back and forth between these two guys. I hope selfishly that Brian Flores continues to be the Vikings defensive coordinator in the future, even though he's probably a guy who will get a second bite at the apple, I think,

at some point in time as a head coach in this league. We're going to hear from Caleb Williams here in a minute, as well as offensive coordinator, Press Taylor, the mental war quote that you mentioned. Oh, did I blow it? Did I give it away? It's a good tease for sure because it is about this matchup. But I think when you're listening to Ben there, I think some of it, Grotie, is this thought process of

how as a coach do I get my players, you know, maximally prepared for this while still simplifying it enough to allow them to play fast, right? And I think that's sort of the juggle of like we want to just dump all of the things that we've learned about this defense and this scheme and tendencies and this and that, but also make sure that we don't overload it to the point where all of a sudden your brain fog kicks in. And so there's a lot to that. Caleb was asked, you know, basically how he feels his ready to do. compares to the previous few times he's faced Brian for his. He's obviously in a third year in the

NFL, second year with Ben Johnson. There is a little bit greater readiness there. And here was Caleb Williams on this week's test. Part of it is, you know, just knowing how this defense is in the sense of it's a game plan defense. And so he's going to game plan all the way up to the tee from first snap to last snap. And, you know, it's, coach calls this mental war when you go versus him. And it's, that's what it is. You've got to be able to go out there and, you know, things are going to happen. Bad things are going to happen. You got to be able to fight back and stay steady. And so that's, that's one of the biggest things is not allowing his defense and all of that to flush you and get in your mind. That's, that's one of the first. And then after that,

and, you know, you stay steady and things like that. Now it's time to go, you know, make plays and get completions. And, you know, when the big ones show up, you know, take him and find them. You know, my job is, you know, part of my job is, you know, when those things happen is, it's fine in the big ones and then you know when it's not it's fine in the completions and so that's a it's a big challenge for us myself this week and uh you know i'm gonna take it up and uh you know we'll see how it turns out on sunday gaudy i did read on social media that this mental war may be over very soon that that brian flores is called he's really really eager to make a deal feels like he really needs to make a deal and the mental war may be over soon

truth some sort of truce maybe coming to pass but i like i think you hear caleb understanding, but also not unnerved by this, which I think has been kind of a theme of this part of Caleb's journey right now, where he just seems settled with the challenges that are coming his way. He acknowledges they're really difficult, but it's not like, oh crap, it's like, okay, yeah, this is the week, and this is what I'm going to go into. It's going to be a rough week, but that's what I signed up for. Yeah, as Caleb Williams said, bad things can happen. And I think that, and we've seen it with Caleb Williams, that, like, he is equipped to go up. think now more than ever equipped to, you know, recognize some of the different looks in real time

that he's going to get from Minnesota. And we know his elusivity is second to none. His ability to run and scramble may come into play if the blitz rate is as high as we might anticipate it is. So I feel like with the progression of Caleb, he is in a place right now, almost better equipped than a lot of quarterbacks to handle a defense like Minnesota's. Yeah, with everything around them, too, which is an amazing sort of comfort to have. as a quarterback to understand this is not on you. This is a collective effort, and the collective is very, very strong right now as evidenced by the 552 and 59 points the other day that they put up in Carolina.

And so, you know, while we stand this game spotlight just for a couple seconds longer, we're going to hear from Press Taylor, who also chimed in on the mental war against Brian Flores. There was so much talk yesterday about kind of the mental war, like, preparing to face with Brian Flores, led defense. What is that perspective look like from here? That's exactly what it is. I mean, there's, you can find a little bit of everything in the defense through years of tape with him. Every game looks like a little bit different playbook maybe, call sheet, whatever it is from him.

Going back to not just every single game you watch of his, but every time he's faced Ben or when he's faced Caleb. Like all those, they all look a little different. So you're trying to look and see what do they do well that they might want to go back to, okay? And so you're trying to figure out how can we best utilize him? our time and practice. How can we have a plan for everything that could possibly come up that's been shown before? You have to be extremely, extremely thorough. You don't want to simplify too much where you pigeonhole yourself because you kind of want enough flexibility where at some point in the game when you kind of get a feel for how the game's being played, you have the ability to pivot and kind

of go down that way if it's a little bit more man, a little bit more zone, a little bit more pressure, no pressure, five-man fronts, four-man fronts. You just kind of, you need to have all that in your arsenal or else you're going to get stuck here and you showed up without enough ammo. So that's kind of, that's the challenge of playing these guys. I love the war reference again. The ammo, man. Yeah, got to have enough ammo. Got to have enough ammo.

You run out of ammo. The war gets a little bit more difficult. You're dead. Yeah. We know war. You know what? While we have a chance to talk about their defense against the bear's offense, I listened to the interview that you did without me because you had to,

with Alec Lewis of the athletic really good stuff and one thing that I really grasped onto was him talking about the idea that the defensive line of or the defense of Minnesota may try to expose the bear's interior offensive line and specifically Garrett Bradbury the center with you know they are familiar with him and early on as Garrett Bradbury and Caleb Williams are still developing chemistry. still developing communication in a loud place. I thought that that was really interesting to hear. And again, by the people who watched the All-22, Garrett-Bradbury did not have a great game on a couple of snaps and a couple of communication issues in week one. So I think that's an area I'm fascinated by it to watch if the interior can hold up. We know how good those guards are and Jonah Jackson and Joe Tuny,

but there may be a vulnerable spot with Garrett-Bradberry at right now, that is. Yeah, I mean, it's something to keep an eye on, and this feels like one of those games where you're going to have an idea of how it went when it ends, but then you're going to get back into the video the next day, and you're like, oh, okay, I see kind of some of the wrinkles and the nuance to why certain things happen. And so that's why I think it is high entertainment for the three hours that the game is live in real time on Sunday, and then it becomes really, really fun the day after these types of games to kind of study the things that happened that you weren't expecting and how each. side adapted and changed and adjusted to all those things. Dan, will you do me a favor and go get me a donut real quick? No, what I need you to do, Dan, is... Fresh out, only Danish is left. Oh, yeah, yeah, the Danes.

Would you please give me and our audience three things to watch because I need three things to watch in this game? Okay. So here's where we're going to start with our three things to watch. Sunday, Paris, Vikings, Soldier Field, new kickoff. I like Michigan. Dennis Allen's defense needs to respond, and I want to watch the response of this defense

after they had a suboptimal performance in the season opener. As you might imagine, Mark Roddy, we don't have all the audio to accompany this, but right on brand, Dennis Allen was not interested in talking about Sunday's game against Carolina. He took a question right out of the gates and was like, listen, guys, I'm not going to be talking about Carolina off. And then he took a second question,

and then I asked him about, of all things, Malik Mohamed's interception at the end. of the first half, a highlight of the defense on Sunday. He said, boy, you guys are really determined to ask about the last game. And it was like, yeah, we haven't had a chance to it yet, right? Yeah. And literally, I had to cut them off and say, number one, Dennis, like, we haven't had a chance to talk to you since Sunday.

And number two, the reason I'm asking this is because you guys made such a big deal about end of half success, not only for the offense, but for the defense, too. And that was a big moment in that football game to get a touchdown and then back it up with the takeaway. He answered that question, and then, you know, we kind of meandered in some other directions. But Dennis Allen's response to questions today was one thing. His response to how his team played has to take this group to a new level on Sunday against the Vikings' offense. We know the challenges.

We know who Justin Jefferson is. We know what they can do with their running game. Dennis Allen did say, Grotie, that he was really kind of disappointed with the way that his group controlled the line of scrimmage in Charlotte. So that's something to keep an eye on. If they're going to be a little bit better, they need to be a little bit better up front at that part of the, part of the defense, and then you just have to figure out a way to get your corners to play at a little higher level. Both Tyreek Stevenson and Jalen Johnson spoke on Thursday at Ellis Hall. Both expressed frustration with the way they played in week one, but also like a true corner needs to do.

They feel like they've been successful over the last four days at flushing it, getting themselves ready to go for week two. And as Dennis Allen said, you have to be man enough to admit where you fell short, and then you have to improve through your performance and your preparations. Well, that's where the bears are. And I think I think you would have agree that one of the big things to watch is can this defense, you know, calm everyone's nerves a little bit that they're not going to be a Sib all season long. Yeah. I mean, super important. And as you said at the beginning of the show and have said, you know, it's a division game. Like, we know some of the usual suspects on this team in the production that they've had in Justin Jefferson, who had last week eight catches for 92 yards and two TD. So he looked like Justin Jefferson. Jordan Addison, who, like, he's their Colston, Lovelland of last week,

had just two targets in that game. You know, Hawkinson, obviously, is always a threat as well. So it is. It's a very good challenge for Dennis Allen's defense. And, yeah, you know, it's funny about the Dennis Allen lack of responses. I really thought, like, I thought Dennis Allen has had a really good preseason. Like, is there right? Like, he's been so transparent, more comfortable in Chicago, more comfortable

with the media than he ever was. I thought maybe it would be different, but I guess we're just hitting our heads on the table trying to figure it out. Like it would be nice to talk to the coordinators on Monday, you know, or Wednesday, you know, earlier. I don't know. Courtney Cronin was a little bit fired up by the dismissive nature of Sunday questions by Dennis Allen and she was saying, why don't we just do this on Tuesdays? And Kevin Fishby made the point, would probably be the exact same response on Tuesdays, right? Probably. We're two days past that.

You guys still stuck there. It is what it is. We're going to have to figure out how to speak the proper language on Thursdays to make those sessions that's productive for everybody as it could possibly be. And we'll see what direction goes. But, yeah, I mean, it's a choice. I mean, it is a conscious choice right now by DA to go with Tumbo on any questions that are over 14 hours old. Yeah, I mean, you're dodging responsibility, to be honest with you.

And why wouldn't there be questions about 478 yards that the defense gave up in 353 passing and 125 on the ground and 37 points in general? And a unit that could mean the difference between the Bears making the playoffs and not or thriving in the postseason. So all right. Well, I'll stop. But it is a frustrating aspect to everything. And hopefully the Bears defense will be better this week. What else do you have that you would like to share with us? stand. I do have other things. There's not just one thing to watch. Number two on our list of things to watch is

Jalen Redmond. And this one's a little bit out there probably for our casual observers. We know about the Vikings defense. We know some of the household names like Harrison Smith back from retirement. Here he's easier again, once again, which is great for me because I was there in Minnesota the night he was drafted long, long time ago. I was just a young man back then, Mark Grotie. We know about Andrew Van Ginko. We know what he's been capable of. Blake Cashman, if you listen to our Alec Lewis podcast. He speaks very highly of Blake Cashman, but it was Jaylon Redmond's name, who was brought up originally by the head coach on Wednesday. I remember.

Really caught their attention late last season and has continued to flash on the film. We had a chance today to follow up with Press Taylor on what he sees from Jalen Redmond when they turn on the tape is a big, strong defensive lineman who's fast. And they see a guy that Press described as a load and a guy that can move up and down the formation in ways that, you know, when we're talking about Brian Flores trying to. to do things to screw up your mind a little bit. They can move pieces around. And this is one of those pieces that they use.

And Jalen Redmond, when you catch the attention to Ben Johnson, and he circles your name and he tells his players, hey, guys, we cannot let this guy wreck our game on Sunday afternoon. You know you've done a little bit of something. So that's just a word to the wise for folks out there. Jalen Redmond is a player to watch. Number 61 on your program when you're turning on the game. on Sunday afternoon.

He's an interesting guy, too, because he undrafted free agent for Carolina in 2023. Panthers waived him. He then decided to go play football in the old XFL with the Arlington Renegades. Then in 2024, signed to the Minnesota practice squad, and then made the 53-man roster. And yesterday, last year had a breakout season, relatively. to six sacks and 50-some tackles. If I'm not mistaken, like we'd have to go back.

I'd have to go back. I'm pretty sure Ben Johnson did this last year, too, before the second game that he was pointing out, or somebody, I feel like we had this conversation about Jalen Redmond last year, too. I don't know. I'll dive into the archives today. I'm trying to validate that for you

because I got plenty of it saved here in my... Okay, I'm curious. 27-terabyte hard drive on my computer here. But it's a name to watch, you know, and you talked about just kind of being sturdy up front with your offensive line. This is one of the challenges that they'll be up against on Sunday. All right. Give us a third thing to watch on Sunday, Dan. The third thing to watch is going to be two players.

Their names are Colston Loveland and Zambian Thomas. Bears scored 59 points. I don't know if you've heard this, Mark, already. They scored 59 in the season opener in Carolina. And neither of those two players that I mentioned had a touch in any way, shape, or form. Colson Loveland targeted on three passes, two officially. One was the interception in the end zone that Caleb threw that was thankfully overturned by an off-size penalty.

Zavian Thomas, the Panthers made a choice to kick away from him, and it was Josh Blackwell catching all the kickoffs. And Richard Itower sort of said he was a little bit surprised at how much respect the rookie who had never played an NFL regular season game got from the Carolina Special Teams unit, but they are going back to work in the lab this week trying to find ways that if there are catchable kickoffs for Zambian Thomas, that he finds a way to get that football in his hands and gets his chance to take what was

called right after the drafts and shots on goal, right? Like get the ball in your hand and a leverage opportunity and try to change the game, you know. And so Loveland and Xavier and Thomas, I would expect both of them to receive at least one touch against the Vikings and stay tuned because I've got more on Loveland in a minute. But I would imagine you would agree that both of those guys are going to be. more involved this week. I said the same thing on the score today talking about Zavian Thomas that hey man, I love I guess four three speed is going to be respected. But my God, he's never taking a kick in a real NFL game in his life. And oftentimes, I mean, we saw it. I don't want

to bring up the VALIS name, but it can take a while to get that down and get that crisp and get that identity and get that smoothness and all of that. So Josh Blackwell did have one nice return in the game. It was nice to see him get a little bit of an opportunity out there. But I agree with you. Like I'm curious about Xavier and Thomas from the offensive standpoint as well. Like, is this the week where we see Ben Johnson start to use him in some unique scenarios and gadget spots?

So I think that's a great name to bring up. And yeah, you're right. Obviously, Colston Loveland, no brainer. He should get into it. I mean, I don't know if it means. anything that last year it was it was slow to get him involved as well last year i don't think it's fair to compare the his rookie season where most of the off season program he spent there a lot of it he was injured before he came to life in training camp but i don't know the chemistry was

slow last year maybe it could be again this year yeah and you know we'll see i think i would expect him to get to get rolling here fairly quickly yeah um what else he got did you say you had something else on Loveland or okay well that's coming up in the next little segment here which you know what our next little segment is okay all right this is it right here ladies and gentlemen it is the well oil machine segment brought to you by the Roorman automotive group home with a $50 oil change i think i might know who your well oil machine is dan yeah well first of all shout out to the Roman auto group who is really good at giving these oil changes right i know recently my wife I went and got one of the Arlington Acura in Pelotine.

And what an experience. Great experience. Great experience. Cars running smooth. It was cleaner when I got it back. It's always a beautiful thing, right? Yeah, man. They give, as they said to me, when I had my $50 oil change, they said, do you mind if we give your car a bath?

I was like, yeah. I'd never heard of put that way. I was like, I like the way you talk. And yes, go ahead. Give the car a bath. That got in my car. Yeah, it was great. I got my car.

It smelled good. They had those cool little mats on the car. Like it was a brand new car. So yeah, shout out to the Roorman Automotive Group, home with a $50 oil change. Do you have a well-oil machine player for the Bears on Sunday? I'm guessing that the suspense is minimal. My well-oil machine is the guy in the 84 jersey.

It is Colson Lomwell. It is a breakout opportunity for him against this defense. I think he's going to be very, very reliable for Caleb as an answer in a lot of situations. And so I might, you know, last year, I think we had a segment where we were, we were, you know, making some bets here and there for the people. And, you know, anytime touchdown for Colston Lovelland probably looks okay this week. You want to play around with that.

But regardless, he's going to be the well-oil machine because I expect him to get himself rolling. And Press Taylor was very complimentary of, obviously, some opportunities that didn't come his way on Sunday and yet still stayed very invested in everything they were doing was a mawling blocker in a lot of instances. Colton Lovin my well-oil-oil machine. Well, I'm going to stick with your theme from three things

to watch. Then I'm going to go Xavier and Thomas. I am going with Xavier. He's going to get it somehow, some way. Richard Hightower will figure out a way to get the ball in his hands on special teams. And I do believe that there will be a player too to come Xavier and Thomas's

way. I love that idea. I love the concept that there was, those are two players that's meat left on the bone, and those are two of the players. for whom the reasons were. So I love the idea of Zavian Thomas B. My Well Oil Machine. Dan goes with Colston Loveland.

We shall see. You went with Swift last week, right? So you're on a roll, buddy. I won. Yeah, definitely won't. I don't remember who you picked, but I didn't remember who I picked. Oh, no, I remember. Actually, I did okay as well.

I believe I went with Montez Sweat. I think I went with Sweat. Now, I didn't have a dynamic game, but he did have a sack? So it wasn't like. You didn't have three touchdowns, did he? you win dan that's fine okay why can't you just give me this i don't understand you sometimes the well-oiled machine segment is brought to you by the roerman automotive group home of the fifty dollar oil change um tying up some loose ends here on the show before we get out of here per hour you got your prediction

first oh predictions predictions predictions predictions that's right that's right okay i will go first our predictions i am going to say you know what The Bears A will be held under 59 points in this game. I am sorry to say that they will not score in the 50s two weeks in a row. Yeah. The Bears are going to win this game, though. I have the Bears beating the Minnesota Vikings. 31 to 21 will be the final score.

And I'm going to say it, it's not even going to feel that close. Minnesota will have a late touchdown in this game to make it 31 to 21. Kind of a garbage time touchdown. The game will have been over. The Bears win at 31 to 21. I mean, what you're describing is a flood of people leaving the museum campus in that little tunnel on the way out of Colger Field chanting Green Bay sucks. I mean, that's it. That's exactly what you just described.

Yes, and I might even be walking through the tunnel at that time. Who knows? I'm going to go 30 to 24 bears in this case. I was kind of waffling a little bit early on Thursday. And then I had a little conversation around this building with Jeff Joni. I got my mind in a sharper place. And it's just, you know, like you do. I've said this all week.

Like you just have a heightened sense of comfort with Ben Johnson at the controls here, where you understand how maniacally he is about finding solutions, and you have the trust that he's going to find the solutions to set his quarterback up, first and foremost, for success and by extension, the entire offense. And so I think they're going to be able to get some things done on Sunday that other teams might not be able to. And so it's a big deal to be at 2-0 with a division win under your belt. And obviously moving into a primetime showdown against the Eagles the following week. So 30-24 Bears is my pick.

So wait, were you thinking about picking Minnesota? Is that? Yeah, it was. Yeah. A little seesaw here. You know, their quarterback situation is what it is. But, I mean, they're a little bit feisty, you know.

They always are. And so it's just, it's one of these teams that you just feel the feist. No, man. I mean, especially after the triumph of last week, two back-to-back games are rarely the same in the NFL. So, and like I said, hey, man, for week when I was a threat to pick Carolina to win, boy, am I glad? I didn't do that because I'd be wearing that one. But I get it, man.

It's the NFL. And there are going to be games this year that the bears are going to lose that you don't expect them to lose. So I do get where you're coming from. Our producer who is just, I'll just say this. Adam Stodzinski has been difficult. He's been difficult when it comes to predictions and the like this year. That's the word I'm going to use on the air. But he does say, my prediction bears.

So that this is the length. to which studs has gone. He also tells us that Kyler Murray officially limited in practice, both Wednesday and Thursday. So that is the deal yet, or deal so far for Kyler Murray. I doubt he's going to play, but who knows. Yeah, yeah, and we'll see where things have happened.

But yeah, we've got a clean sweep here on take the North. All right. All three of us got to be there it is. Anything else, Dan? I feel like you probably have emptied the chamber here in our war themed show today. Empty the chamber. See?

I got you. I got it to be in there. Yeah. No, I don't think I have anything else. I got to get back upstairs to that box of pastries, which I believe was the lilac bakery just to give them a little shout out for supplying the entire media room at Hals Hall's Hall with the sweetness, goodness of their very, very delicious apple beans. Oh, yeah. Now, who's response when there's one left or whatever?

Is Larry Mayer? Is he the one responsible for cleaning up and making sure everything is spiffy down in the media room? or bring the extra donuts to his friends in the real quarter. Look, you're giving me. I don't know that Larry's responsible for much here, I don't know about that. Let's get the hell out of here. Oh, man.

For Dan Weeder of the athletic and frequent score contributor, for our difficult executive producer, Adam Zitzinski. I am Mark Rodi of 104-3, the score saying thank you so much for watching and listening to The Mighty Take the North podcast. Great talk. You out there.

Thank you, everybody. Thanks, best.